


Dinner, Not Lunch

by Claire Elizabeth Fletcher (I_Am_Not_Even_Sorry)



Series: Magnus and Maria [2]
Category: Magnus Martinsson - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 17:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_Not_Even_Sorry/pseuds/Claire%20Elizabeth%20Fletcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus and Maria's first meeting</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dinner, Not Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> All of these stories skip around in Magnus and Maria's relationship.

He passed her again and he smiled. It was the fifth time he had walked past her in the last hour. With every pass he had edged just a little closer to her desk. She pretended not to notice him. She was sure if she looked up and met his eyes she would faint dead away and then she would fall out of her chair and have to be rushed to the hospital and she would need stitches and he would surely never talk to her after that. She busied herself with her computer. She was supposed to be finding out information about the latest piece of evidence they had received. She was asked to do some research on it, just give some background info so that they would know how best to store it and what if any special precautions were needed. She was supposed to be finding this information, not watching out of the corner of her eye the tall, gorgeous blonde who kept walking by her desk.  
She had heard his name was Magnus. He was very quiet, somber even. He was several years older than her she guessed. She had seen him on her second day here. He was magnificent. She had asked around and found out he was the youngest detective on the Ystad Police force, and he was so handsome. Anna, who worked at the front desk told her not to waste her time on him. He was snobby and too serious and sometimes outright sassy. Maria thought he didn’t look sassy today.  
On his sixth pass by her desk she stood up and went to move around her desk. He barely missed running into her.  
“Oh, I’m sorry. That was clumsy of me. Are you alright?” he said in a deep voice, looking down at her. She looked up at him and blushed as she saw how blue his eyes were.  
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry too. I just needed to stretch my legs.” She reached out her hand to him. “I’m Maria, I just started here last week. I’m still meeting everyone, getting used to it.” He took her hand in his and shook it gently.  
“Magnus,” he said looking down at her still.  
“It’s nice to meet you Magnus,” she paused awkwardly. This was going to be harder than she thought. “And where do you work?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.  
“Detective, with Wallander,” he responded tersely. She smiled up at him. She was out of things to say. If he didn’t help her they would just be standing there, silent, until she could slink back into her chair and die of embarrassment. She shifted her weight uncomfortably and looked away from him, waiting for him to say something. He didn’t, he just looked down at her. He was thinking how pretty she was and how asking her out to lunch was probably not such a good idea. She wondered what he was thinking, was he interested in her? Finally, when she couldn’t stand the silence anymore, she said, “I had best get back to work. I’m supposed to be finding out information…” she shrugged and turned away.  
“Maria,” his voice came loudly behind her. She turned to him and smiled. “Would you have lunch with me today? We could eat here or go to a restaurant, or whatever you want.” She noticed how nervous he looked.  
“Of course, I would like that very much Magnus,” she said with a smile. “12:30?”  
“Yes, good, very good,” he replied. “I’ll come by and pick you up. Good,” he said as he smiled a relieved smile and walked away from her toward the stairs. When he started to climb the stairs he looked back at her and smiled, raising his hand to her. She blushed again, seeing him smile at her.  
She tried to busy herself the rest of the morning. She was surprised when she looked up from her computer at 11:40 and saw him coming toward her. She smiled widely at him. He didn’t smile back.  
“Hi Magnus,” she said, trying not to sound too excited to see him.  
“Hello Maria. Look, I am not going to be able to have lunch with you today. Something has come up,” he looked down and hesitated.  
“Ok, it’s alright. I probably have a ton of work to do anyway. Some other time maybe,” she said trying to look away from him. She watched his smile return.  
“Yes, another time.” He turned around and walked back up the stairs quickly. She was left sitting at her desk, she was surprised how deflated she felt. She had only met him this morning and she was already hoping she could get to know him better. She rested her elbow on her desk, pushing her hand into her forehead as she ran her hand through her hair. She sighed and got back to work.  
Just before 5 she was getting ready to close down her computer and she saw she had an email from Magnus. She debated whether to open it or not, she wasn’t sure if she could take anymore disappointment from him today. She decided she had better answer it in case it was something work related.  
“Can I take you to dinner tonight?” he asked. She smiled.  
“Sure, I’m just getting ready to leave,” she sent back quickly. She had the urge to make a joke about him cancelling lunch but she decided against it.  
“Great, 5 minutes. I’ll meet you at your desk?” he sent back.  
“5 minutes,” she sent back. She quickly organized her desk. She shut down her computer. She looked up to see him standing in front of her, adjusting his coat.  
“Ready?” he asked with a smile. He seemed different to her, different than he had this morning. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She smiled at him as they walked out of the station and to his car. He took her to a nearby restaurant.  
After they had sat down he sighed and looked across the table at her. “I’m really sorry about this afternoon. Kurt had things for me to do, I couldn’t get out of them.” He looked away. “It was a productive day though,” he said leaning back in his chair.  
“It’s fine Magnus. I ate at my desk, yogurt and fruit, so boring!” she laughed.  
“So tell me about yourself,” he said as the waiter brought them their drinks. He was so much easier here than he had been at work. He was relaxed and interested, he was different.  
“Well, let’s see,” she said as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, sweeping her auburn hair over her shoulder. The thought suddenly occurred to her, she hadn’t checked her makeup at all today. There was no reason to, but now sitting across from him, she panicked a little, hoping she didn’t look too dreary. She ran her fingers under her eyes in case there was any mascara there. He was looking at her intensely, evaluating her, summing up her personality. She figured that is what policeman do, they figure people out, they see the things that people try to hide. She desperately tried to hide that she was nervous, that she was highly attracted to this tall blonde across from her. In the end she just gave up. He would see it anyway.  
She looked down at the table and when she looked back up at him, he was smiling at her, his blue eyes smiling as well. “I grew up in Tomelilla, but we moved to Stockholm when I was a teenager. My grandparents lived here in Ystad. I would spend summers here with them. My mother always said the city was no place to be in the summer,” she said as she rolled her eyes. He laughed. The waiter came and took their order. She continued. “I went to college in Stockholm, but when I got out of school I decided to move back here to Skane. I was tired of the city,” she paused and watched him take a drink of his lager.  
“Tell me more,” he urged her, sitting forward in his chair. She had the feeling she was being interviewed, in the nicest possible way.  
“I just felt so isolated all the time in the city. Alone amidst all of those people. And all of my friends had moved away for jobs, and I just couldn’t shake the feeling of being…” she paused again. She realized she was revealing way more to him than she had even planned. She had no idea why she was telling him about her loneliness in the city. She surmised it must be the detective in him, pulling out all of the pertinent details of her life. “Lonely, I guess is the word,” she said shrugging her shoulders.  
“I have always felt that way about Stockholm, it’s not a comfortable place to be alone,” he agreed with her. She was a little relieved to hear he didn’t think she was strange.  
“I think it’s the fact that there are so many people, and they are always running from place to place and they never really see anything going on around them. They never look at you, they never look around them and wonder what peoples lives are like. I always wonder what people’s lives might be like. Is that strange?” she said to him. He shook his head.  
“Not at all. I think that is much more normal than being a robot. Work, home, dinner, television, bed, work… how dreary.” He smiled at her.  
“Where did you grow up?” she asked him.  
“Malmo, mostly. I’ve been here in Ystad for a couple of years.” He looked around the restaurant. “I like it mostly, not much nightlife, but that is ok. Nightlife often just brings crime. Wait maybe I should want a little more nightlife then,” he said with a smile.  
“More paper work though, are you a fan of paperwork Magnus?” she responded jokingly. She remembered Anna telling her how he was always complaining about paperwork. She laughed as she saw him throw his head back and laugh.  
“No, I am not Maria. I think you will find, many people at the station will tell you how I feel about paperwork.” She smiled at him. He was even more handsome when he smiled. She blushed looking in his eyes.  
They finished dinner, talking about themselves and their families. She was so glad she had checked that email before she left her desk. He drove her back to the station to pick up her car. When he parked he turned to her in her seat and said, “Thank you, thank you for having dinner with me. I hope we can do this again.” She watched him lick his lips.  
“I would really like that Magnus,” she said quietly. He leaned toward her and kissed her lips gently. She hadn’t expected him to, but she held very still, closing her eyes and feeling his soft lips on hers. She wanted to reach up and feel the soft curls on his head but she stopped herself. She opened her eyes as he pulled away from her. His eyes looked even more blue this close, in the dim light of the parked car. “Thank you Magnus.” He smiled at her.  
“Anytime Maria,” he whispered, “How about lunch tomorrow?”


End file.
